They’re supposed to cut the grass on weekends. They’re expected to drive their kids to soccer games, get babysitters and take their wives out to dinner.

But stuff that’s supposed to happen doesn’t always happen.

Call it divine intervention, fate, karma or damnable bad luck. Whatever it is, it makes the best-laid plans vanish like last night’s dream.

So what are mere mortals supposed to do? Should they junk their routines and itineraries and go the “don’t worry, be happy” route? That sounds appealing. But not very practical.

Leave it to Rev. Hosie Waters to offer some answers.

Waters is from Montezuma. He’s the father-in-law of Otis Brock Sr. and had the privilege (and burden) of delivering the eulogy at Brock’s memorial service Saturday on the campus of Savannah State University. His challenge was huge: How to make sense of the senseless?

What message should people take from the sudden death of a promising young man who was bound for a higher calling, like superintendent of Savannah-Chatham County public schools, and, more importantly, was a loving husband and father of two little girls, with a third child on the way?

The eyes and ears of about 800 people in SSU’s new student center zeroed in on Waters. They waited on the tall, dignified man in the long preacher’s robes for words of meaning and comfort.

He didn’t disappoint. If he was Hank Aaron at the plate, you could say he knocked it out of the park:

“Never leave home angry,” he said. “Never leave home without speaking to your loved ones. You may not get a second chance. Whatever you say could be your last words.” Simple. Yet profound.

Waters recalled passages from the Book of Job, the Biblical figure who defined victimhood. “Trouble will find you,” he said. “Trouble will find you if you’re rich, trouble will find you if you’re poor. Trouble will find you if you’re educated, with all kinds of degrees on the wall, and trouble will find you if you’re uneducated.”

Trouble, as Savannah learned last week, found Otis Brock. It left the chief operating officer of the public school system lifeless last Tuesday in his downtown office. Minutes later, trouble found his family, friends and coworkers.

Today, tomorrow and the next day, trouble will find someone else, too. Who? Who knows?

Brock’s memorial service drew a wide, cross section of the community, a testimony to one man’s positive impact. But leave it to the women in Brock’s life — his wife, mother and sister — to give this assemblage an unexpected, yet magnificent gift: The gift of laughter.

Charles McMillan, a mentor of Brock, gave the final, parting words. As he got cranked up, he said that Nailah Brock, Annette Brock and Donna Brock had thrown him a curve ball. He said they wanted him to leave people with smiles on their faces.

Redd Foxx would have been proud. McMillan’s best joke came at the expense of Savannah Mayor Pro Tem Van Johnson, a close but occasionally long-winded friend of Brock, about 60 minutes into the service. Channelling Brock, McMillan said, “I can’t believe we’ve been here an hour and Van Johnson is still in his seat and not at the microphone.”

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